Origin
Designations
How is foie gras produced ?
Benefits

Origin :
Foie gras would have been discovered in Egypt, at the dawn of the third millennium before J.C, from wild geese having migrated to spend winter in the Nil delta marshes. Amazed by the size and taste of these geese livers, Egyptians would have understood that the animals naturally created their fattened liver by overfeeding in order to accomplish long migratory flights. One only had to reproduce this operation to discover Foie Gras.

 

Designations :

Goose or duck ?
Goose foie gras always has its supporters who appreciate the subtle sweetness of tastes. It is said to have a "more delicate, elegant, aristocratic" taste. But duck foie gras has also its supporters who prefer the frankness of its musk flavours, mixed with a touch of lasting bitterness.

Fresh Foie Gras :
Fresh foie gras can be used to prepare preserves but generally, it is used for warm preparations like for example, foie gras with grapes.
Fresh foie gras is generally cut into slices, simply high heat cooked in some grease and always served with an acidulated or sugared sauce.

Semi-cooked Foie Gras :
Semi-cooked foie gras is generally available in terrines, jars or tins. It is a half-preserve that has been pasteurised, which means through-cooked to between 70 and 85°c depending on manufacturers.

Preserved Foie Gras :
Preserved foie gras is sterilised, through-cooked to between 105°C and 115°C, it may be stored for some years. It is the most traditional preparation, it is served at the beginning of the meal, as an entrée or aperitif. However, there is a wide range of preserved foie gras: whole foie gras, mass, parfait, mousse…

Regulations are very precise about the various designations containing the term "foie gras".

Though these 3 preparations are exclusively based on foie gras, they have not the same quality and the same price. Whole foie gras is the best of the hierarchy, it always come from very high quality foie gras. Parfaits are made by mixing 75% minimum of foie gras with poultry lives. Pâtés, médaillons, galantines, mousses de foie contain 50% minimum of foie gras.

How is liver fattened ?
Migratory birds in particular, naturally overfeed to endure winter and to fly long distances, and thus, stock fat in their liver.
Following this observation, man has copied this natural operation for 4000 years, to obtain foie gras.
A fattened liver is not a diseased liver: scientific studies prove it. It is a palmiped's liver showing a lipidic excess (fatty liver) due to a rich feeding, without presenting signs of cellular degeneration. Therefore, it is not, as we can hear sometimes, a hepatitis or cirrhosis. In addition, when a fattened poultry is released, the fattened liver goes back to its initial weight, without any modification of its physiological functions. This is called the reversibility of fattened liver and demonstrates that it is obtained naturally.
Before being fattened, poultry are bred. The one-day duckling and gosling are grown up. These young animals are paid particular attention related to ambient temperature and feeding. Cramming, which lasts 2 or 3 weeks according to species, is done progressively, 2 or 3 times a day for geese. The animal must be in good health status and as it does not bear an excessive heat, put in good conditions (venting, air-conditioning).
Corn is the best feeding food because on the one hand, of its high starch content (75%), and on the other hand, of its composition poor of certain enzymes permitting an important accumulation of lipids in the liver.

Benefits
Consumption of confit, foie gras, goose and duck fats is a source of benefit for our health.
As far back as the sixties, Pr Serge RENAUD devoted to the study and prevention of coronary disease.
In 1978, he discovered the importance of some unsaturated fatty acids for prevention of cardiovascular diseases; this is the beginning of the « Paradoxe Français » channel.
This is the reason why the W.H.O (World Health Organisation) launched the MONICA project in 1987 in 41 centres dispatched in 21 pays, among which 3 in France (Lille, Strasbourg, Toulouse). So, it was shown that in Toulouse, where people are big consumers of confit, goose or duck fat, the coronarian mortality is among the lowest and the life expectancy among the best. Geese and duck products have a high polyunsaturated fatty acids content, which are organism protectors.

Figuigers benefits :
Pr René BABILE, from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agriculture of Toulouse emphasised thanks to a study carried out in 1998, that fig modifies the composition of fatty tissue, adding more polyunsaturated fatty acids, and especially, linoleic or linolenic acids. By increasing the unsaturated fatty acids-saturated fatty acids ratio, the fig confers to Figuigers factors more favourable to health than the corn fattened duck.